What lost the king his regal power

What lost the king his regal power?
The want of patience for an hour:
And who for Christ refuse to stay,
With patience cast their souls away,
The cross they hastily lay down,
And forfeit an immortal crown.

Hymnal/Album: Originally titled “Now would the Lord have established thy kingdom forever: but now thy kingdom shall not continue.”—[I. Sam.] xiii. 13, 14. Introduced in Charles Wesley, Short Hymns on Select Passages of the Holy Scriptures, Vol. 1 (Bristol: Farley, 1762). Published in The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley, Collected and Arranged by G. Osborn, Vol. 9 (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1870), page 158.
Publishing: Public Domain